The top five technologies available to law enforcement

February 28, 2012

If you’re wondering what the latest gadgets are that are used in police work, here’s a list of the top five technologies available to law enforcement agencies:

1. DNA profiling is definitely at the top of the list when it comes to the top technologies available to law enforcement agencies in solving crimes and successfully prosecuting difficult criminal cases. It provides evidence that’s virtually irrefutable when it comes to proving a person’s guilt or eliminating a suspect from a criminal investigation. DNA profiling has also freed hundreds of innocent people from prison who have been wrongfully convicted of a variety of crimes, including rape and murder.

2. Geographic information systems (GIS) are one of the technologies available to law enforcement that have a significant impact on their effectiveness when it comes to tracking crimes and criminals. These systems are installed in police computers, allowing them to instantly have a visual picture of the location of crimes and criminal suspects. They’re also used to model crime patterns in neighborhoods. GIS can also track the location of police vehicles, helping departments keep track of officer’s locations.

3. Another important tool in the technologies available to law enforcement agencies is Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR). These are cameras that are equipped in patrol cars that run every single plate they see through a computer database. The database compares them against stolen car reports, and warrant lists and returns the results to the officer within seconds. These high speed cameras can record a license plate whether a car is stationary or driving by at 100 mph.

4. Communication systems are crucial equipment when it comes to the technologies available to law enforcement agencies. Radio systems allow police officers and other emergency personnel to communicate across radio frequencies. Advances in wireless and digital communications mean that agencies all over the world can share information such as photos of suspects, fingerprints, surveillance tapes, DNA information and criminal records at lightning speed, helping to catch criminals, solve crimes and prevent crimes.

5. Another of the top technologies that are available to law enforcement officers is fingerprinting. Advancements in fingerprinting technology now allow investigators to obtain prints from places that they couldn’t before. Image enhancement systems erase background information and make the fingerprint easier to analyze and identify. New biometric technologies are being used to more quickly analyze and compare fingerprint images. Portable biometric technology is a new tool that allows officers in the field to obtain fingerprints and submit them into a database remotely.